'What an amazing atmosphere to be in' - Jones lauds home support after Sunderland win

Meg Jones stood at the Stadium of Light at full-time and beamed.

The Red Roses centre had enjoyed perhaps the best game of her international career as the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup but the USA Women’s Eagles to the sword 69-7 in Sunderland.

Not only brining her customary attacking flair, cross-field kicks and elusiveness with ball-in-hand, the 28-year-old showed a more abrasive side to her game.

A series of dominant carries, harder tackles and an overwhelming aggression, Jones underlined her credentials as one of the best centres in the world.

If it were not for the at times superhuman try scoring and try assisting efforts of Ellie Kildunne, on another day Jones could have been named Mastercard Player of the Match.

Just shy of two hours after full-time on Wearside, supporters lined the exit at the Stadium of Light. They had hoped for a glimpse of their favourite rugby players, megastar attraction Ilona Maher or just to bask in the aura of a record attendance at a Women’s Rugby World Cup fixture.

Across the next fortnight the good times are set to keep rolling for the hosts as they take on Samoa and Australia to conclude a whistle stop tour of the country.

“What an amazing atmosphere to be in,” Jones beamed. “And I think it just shows the growth of this game, and it’ll continue to grow as well.

“To have these fans staying here for this long, cheering us when we come out, it was amazing for us and something we want to lean into massively, particularly being at a home World Cup.

“Obviously the reason we’ve changed our location throughout the whole country, so we can touch base with fans.

“That’s important for us because we’ve got a key message, and that’s for the girls, the girls that are here now, the ones that have passion watching us, singing anthem, singing Swing Low echoing around the stadium. It’s beautiful.”

Even at the end of such a dominant performance there was still a sense that the Red Roses could improve in the games to come.

It was not until Alev Kelter’s first-half yellow card that England extended the gap between themselves after the North Americans harried their hosts. At times England found it difficult to breakdown their opposition before Eagles ill-discipline ultimately opened the door.

In the period Kelter spent in the sin bin, Maud Muir and Kildunne made their way over the whitewash, before a second half onslaught saw the hosts dot down seven times.

“Probably that last pass sort of thing,” Jones said. “We’re getting in the right areas, we were turning defences, but it was just that one pass we needed to get into it.

“Just being patient with the ball as well, particularly when we’re in their half we can just keep building pressure with phases, and we don’t have to rush things.

“We showed that in some elements. Maybe we could have scored a few more, but I also think we built a lot of pressure in that second half.”

In his post-match press conference England head coach John Mitchell confirmed that he and his coaching staff had “planned” their teams for the early part of the tournament.

It was only as a result of Helena Rowland’s rolled ankle that Emily Scarratt got the nod in the matchday 23 against the Eagles and subsequently took part in her fifth World Cup.

As a result, it appears that the likes of Rowland, Holly Aitchison, Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, Marlie Packer and Lilli Ives Campion will all get starts next weekend at Franklin’s Gardens against Samoa.

Having now seen Australia took apart the Pacific Islanders 73-0, England will be looking for a similar sort of scoreline at the end of 80 minutes in the East Midlands.

With a clear picture of how they want to progress through the group stages and into the knockouts, all that is left to do is keep marching down the country and whip up more support as they go.

“I’m pleased with how we wanted to play like we wanted to play,” Jones said. “We wanted to keep the ball alive, and that was really important, but also just resorting back to building pressure.

“We need to keep pressure on teams and that’s where we gather the reward. Nothing too worrying from it.

“Perhaps we could have executed a few things, but that’s the game of rugby and the other team are trying to stop is. I’m sure we’ll touch base on a few things but just looking at how we executed from our own half, I think was beautiful to see us playing.”